Would Romeo Langford lead Vanderbilt on deep NCAA tournament run? History says maybe

Will Romeo Langford be a can’t-miss college basketball player and cog in a deep NCAA tournament run? Vanderbilt, Indiana and Kansas are vying for his services to find out.

Langford, the No. 1 shooting guard in this year’s recruiting class, will choose between the three schools on April 30. As a projected NBA lottery pick in the 2019 draft, Langford is presumably a one-and-done player, which sets up a short but exciting stint with his school.

One-and-done players want to excel immediately and parlay that into a high draft selection. In turn, their schools hope to win big in that lone season and tout the player’s NBA success after that.

But how often does that happen? A review of the No. 1 shooting guard of the past 10 recruiting classes, per 247 Sports composite ratings, reveals that it’s a 50-50 proposition.

Five of those 10 shooting guards became top-10 draft picks. Five of the 10 led their teams to the Sweet 16 or better.

Also, eight were one-and-done players. All 10 had a strong freshman individual season and played in the NCAA tournament. But the only player to get to the Final Four was also the lone undrafted player of the group.

While waiting for Langford’s decision, here are the outcomes of the No. 1 shooting guard in each of the past 10 recruiting classes:

2017: Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky)

Diallo played well on a talented team, averaging 10 points in 37 starts, and helped Kentucky to the Sweet 16. He recently declared for the NBA Draft, where ESPN projects him as a late-first round pick. Falling to the second round would be a disappointment.

2016: Josh Jackson (Kansas)

Jackson did well in all areas. He was an All-American as a freshman, averaging 16.3 points for an Elite Eight Kansas squad. Jackson went No. 4 in the NBA Draft and averaged 13.1 points for the Suns this season, ranked seventh among rookies.